Chapter Text
Shaw wasn’t sure whether she was pissed off or excited.
At first Root’s abduction had pissed her off: she’d managed to creep up on her in her own home, tased and drugged her, before zip tying her to a fucking steering wheel.
Admittedly the proposal to work with Root was not an unappealing one seeing as time with her more often that not involved guns and a shoot out, but that didn’t mean she was any happier about her ambush nor the deceptive woman she was now accompanying.
Their time down in the sewers had lightened Shaw’s mood (nothing got her excited like spaghetti) The mystery intrigued her as much as it pissed her off besides, any girl that didn’t flinch at the thought of blowtorch torture was certainly someone interesting enough for Shaw, and the thrill of never knowing what was coming was enough to get her to stay. That and she’d just been handed a spaghetti blowtorch that just begged to be played with.
But now they had 10 hours to kill in a sparsely fitted CIA safe house and Shaw was hopped up on adrenaline ready to punch something (or someone) and if experience had taught her anything, she knew 10 hours with Root was going to test her patience and control to its limits.
10 HOURS REMAINING
‘So what’s the package?’
Root whipped out zip ties and a couple of hoods.
‘I am’ she declared, smirking widely. Shaw merely stared, eying the zip ties in their infinite possibility. She’d blame her anger or her adrenaline response but she’d be stupid to deny where her thoughts were running and it looked like Root was equally aware.
If possible her smirk got wider as she placed the items on the table, picked up her half eaten apple and strolled through to the next room, lounging back on the black faux-leather couch. Shaw wordlessly followed, standing over her stiffly
‘Well sit down, we’re going to be here a while Sameen; the Machine is keeping time.’ chirped Root, munching on her apparently engrossing apple as she studied it between each bite.
Shaw decided to ignore Root, instead opting to do a full recon of their accommodation and maybe deal more permanently with the downed CIA operative spread eagle on the floor of the entrance hall. She strode through the apartment: bedroom, one bathroom, kitchen-dining area, lounge all very sparsely furnished.
Her footsteps echoed on the wooden floor, rhythmical then stilted as she drugged the operative and shoved him in the bedroom closet, zip-tying him to a pipe for precaution. When she made her way through to living area once again Root was scanning the small bookcase up against the wall. She turned around when she heard Shaw enter
‘Is it an irony thing? The detective novels I mean?’ she questioned, holding up a generic thriller in her hand and raising an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed by the collection. Shaw glared, choosing instead to sit down on the couch, eyes trained on Root who merely shrugged and picked a few novels from the shelves before sitting herself back down on the other end of the sofa, chucking one of the novels down on the coffee table in the middle of the room where it landed next to a pack of cards. Root settled down, lifting and crossing her legs on the table
‘I also found a pack of cards. We could play blackjack’ remarked Root, glancing at Shaw who was currently fiddling with her gun, beginning to slowly take it apart. The small sigh Root emitted did not go unnoticed by the ex-CIA Agent but she’d be damned if she tried to make conversation with the woman.
The room rung with the clacking of metal as Shaw meticulously disassembled her favourite pistol.
9 HOURS REMAINING
Silence.
Both women sat in companionable silence, engrossed in their less-than adequate crime novels. Root had curled her legs up beneath her, nibbling at her thumb nail as she devoured the poorly written yet oddly engrossing tale, whilst Shaw was reclined, legs spread on the coffee table, gun resting on the arm of the couch as her left hand rested on the grip, her right holding up the Swedish thriller as she tried her best not get too lost in the setting: she still didn’t entirely trust Root not to tase her. Not that she’d mind. Much.
Shaw had long ago abandoned the repetitive process of mantling and dismantling her gun, giving in to the temptation of the novel Root had chucked her but she’d be dead before she played cards with the woman.
She estimated about an hour had passed: 9 more hours of this she repeated to herself as a mantra. Only 9.
Root began to shift next to her, stretching out and standing up looking down on Shaw who was pointedly ignoring her.
‘Anything from the kitchen?’ she asked politely enough.
Shaw ignored her and continued to pretend reading her book. Root just sighed, padding off through to the kitchen.
It struck Shaw how oddly domestic the situation was.
Root quickly returned holding two glasses of water, setting one down in front of Shaw, flashing her a grin
‘Thought you might get thirsty anyway’ Shaw glanced up from the book she wasn’t really reading acutely aware of Root’s every move and stared.
‘Thanks’ she said reluctantly, eyes flicking back to the book. Root’s grin got wider.
Perching herself on the edge of the seat Root sipped at her water staring at the blank walls, her ears filled with the Machine’s chatter as She explained how long they were going to be there and what was going on outside, the probability of danger, Hersh’s approximate location and various other informative tid-bits. Root sighed: even facts from her could get boring when she couldn’t delve into the average person’s dirty secrets. Her gaze flicked to Shaw, apparently drawn into her thriller, and the corners of her mouth twitched up. She looked pointedly into the security camera mounted in the corner of the room-probably put there to keep an eye on detainees- eyebrow raised, knowing She would see.
The response was almost immediate. The Machine stopped talking about Hersh’s history and Root imagined her flicking through right down to Shaw, stopping and pulling out a file. Of course, Root knew the basics: the Machine had told her about her father and whatnot but that was just to get her onboard. Root was interested in it all. She settled back, waiting for Her to begin the story, getting comfortable, when the Machine came back
Unavailable
Root shot forward, in response to which Shaw’s grip on her gun immediately tightened as she put down her book, coming to attention, eyes studying Root’s face. It was a picture of shock, though as she found Shaw’s eyes studying her warily she quickly composed herself, knowing smirk back in place.
‘Don’t look so worried Sameen: you really should relax’
‘Have we got a problem?’ questioned Shaw, reacting to Root’s earlier shock, hand still firmly on the grip of her gun.
‘Not one for you to worry about’ Shaw didn’t move. ‘She says we should play cards though’ quipped Root
‘No she didn’t.’ insisted Shaw, now outright glaring at Root who was grinning.
‘It didn’t.’ corrected Shaw harshly, cursing her momentary weakness.
‘No She didn’t but I think we should. Come on Sameen’ pleaded Root, sliding closer in what seemed like a direct bee-line for Shaw’s personal space, instead reached for the packet of cards on the table. Root smirked at Shaw, noticing how she pushed herself further into the arm of the couch, the grip on her gun even tighter than it was before.
‘We both know you’re not actually reading that book, you’ve been staring at the same page for 15 minutes now’ remarked Root, holding up the pack of cards.
‘Still doesn’t mean I want to play card games with you. I am not that desperate’ Shaw straightened up, returning to her original lounged position, bringing the book back up to eye level.
‘Yet’ teased Root, still smirking. Shaw ground her teeth.
9 hours, 9 hours, 9 hours, 9 hours…
8 HOURS REMAINING
This was getting ridiculous.
‘Root’ growled Shaw, grip destroying the pages of the long forgotten book she was still pretending to read.
‘Sameen.’ Impossibly innocent, laced with ‘I-know-exactly-what-I’m-doing-and-I-love-that-it’s-pissing-you-off’
‘Ask your Machine the probability of me kicking your ass.’
Root’s head titled to the side.
‘Hm, quite high She says.’
Root grinned and shrugged; placing her cards carefully on top of the bottom row she had created. Shaw frowned. This was Roots fifth card tower and it was starting to get irritating. She wasn’t even making noise, which should’ve made Shaw feel better yet somehow Root still knew just how to press her buttons, just generally pissing Shaw off in a manner she wasn’t even going to try to describe. And Root knew she was doing it.
The card tower tumbled.
‘Root’ hissed out Shaw as the cards showered onto the floor
‘Sameen?’ questioned Root, beginning to pick up the cards
‘This is ridiculous’
‘What is?’ Shaw’s grip on the book tightened
‘You know what’
‘The card tower? But you wont play cards with me, though I did ask…’ tailed off Root, eyebrow raised in question.
Shaw contemplated. She seriously contemplated playing cards with the woman just to get her to stop doing whatever it was she was doing that was so infuriating to her. Possibly the slow repetitive motions, the apparently purposeful yet insignificant concentrations of placing one card on top of the other; the meaningless action itself and Root’s continued repetition of it with apparent enthusiasm each and every time.
In any case Shaw wanted her to stop doing it. She wasn’t desperate enough to play cards with the woman though. Not by a long shot.
So in response, Shaw pointedly gazed back at her book, brow lightly creased in intense annoyance, teeth gritted. Root saw it all and smirked. She knew how to push this woman’s buttons and she enjoyed it immensely.
The cards were picked back up, arranged on the table in a neat pile meticulously (the slow precision with which this was carried out further annoyed Shaw as it had done the previous five times it had been performed) and then the first two picked up, Root leaning in over the cards in concentration as she tried to create the perfect card tower.
Shaw did her best to ignore this attempt. The first couple of times it had been bearable but Root was anything if not persistent and by the third try she had formulated the ideal method to piss Shaw off. Slow movements, concentration, the meticulous precision and care when constructing this apparently crucial card tower. But Shaw did her best to ignore it all, trying to force her attention back onto the now utterly predictable Scandinavian crime-thriller.
She tried.
The tower collapsed again, and a card floated softly to the ground, under the table near Shaw’s foot. Shaw watched it from the corner of her eye, watched as Root crawled over to pick it up. Her foot slammed down on the card.
Root looked up, eyebrow raised. She tried to pull it from under her foot by the small visible corner to no avail. Shaw merely glared at her, daring to try again.
‘Sameen’
‘Root.’
‘You do realize this card isn’t crucial to my construction don’t you?’
‘Small victories Root’ smirked Shaw. It gave her some satisfaction to know that Root was somewhat perturbed and a tiny bit annoyed at Shaw’s action. Root sat up on her legs, looking Shaw in the eye. Shaw may have seized an opportunity, but Root knew how to seize one too.
‘Fine. Play me for it.’
‘What?’
‘Play me. Indulge me.’
At this Root shuffled closer to Shaw almost between her legs
‘No’
‘I win, and we keep doing what we’ve been doing and you have to grit and bear whatever I throw at you these long hours…’
‘No’
‘..but if you win, I stop making card towers and sit silently for the remainder of our time here. I’ll even sleep on the couch’ grinned Root. Shaw’s brow furrowed as she weighed up her options. Was it worth it?
Root knew she’d won the moment Shaw glared at her.
7 HOURS REMAINING
How the fuck was she loosing?
She was a trained operative, an international spy no less, and yet Root was sweeping the floor with her. To be more specific, she was sweeping the floor with her money as she dragged another pile of dollar bills across to her growing stash.
She couldn’t even claim Root was cheating: she’d watched Root take out her earpiece herself, instructing the Machine to text alert them if danger was approaching: so how the fuck was she loosing?
Root had a grin plastered on her face, sipping at her downright disgusting whiskey (Shaw had, with her innate sixth sense at finding liquor, discovered it in the back of a bathroom cupboard) elegantly. Shaw glared. Not only was she losing pride, she was losing money-her money. Not even Harold’s money.
‘My my Sameen you seem to running scarce on funds.’ Shaw’s grip on the cards she was shuffling tightened, bending them slightly.
‘You’re going to have to offer up something of value in return for your lack of funds’ remarked Root, at which Shaw violently downed her mug of whiskey.
‘Shut up’
‘Your gun perhaps?’
‘You’re destroyed ear piece perhaps?’ shot back Shaw.
‘Don’t be bitter Sameen’
Shaw dealt the cards.
‘Check.’ Shaw tapped the floor in assent and revealed the first three cards. She inwardly cursed. Root fingered her dollar bills, putting forward an additional 20 to the 15-dollar blind she had placed, meeting Shaw’s gaze as she looked back up. Shaw ground her jaw as she met the challenge.
As the final 2 cards revealed themselves Shaw was acutely aware of her bad bluff, but she’d be damned if she gave in to Root’s smirk. As Root contemplated a final raise of the pot she stopped, a thoughtful look crossing her face.
Oh dear.
‘Let’s raise the stakes’
‘What?’
‘Let’s raise the stakes. You don’t have anywhere near enough money so let’s raise the stakes. Or change them.’ Shaw had an idea where this was headed.
‘No’
‘Strip Poker’
‘No’
‘You have no money left to give’
‘No’
‘Then concede.’
Shaw glared harder. Root knew she had her.
‘Fine’ she assented, violently pouring another drink for herself ‘but socks count.’ Root wasn’t going to question; she was too busy hiding a shit-eating grin behind her glass.
Shaw continued with her bluff hoping to swindle some money out of Root, confident she still had her socks.
6 HOURS REMAINING
Shaw was simultaneously cold, pissed off, vaguely enjoying herself and quite possibly aroused.
Root was clad barefoot in jeans and her lace black bra while Shaw herself was fairing worse, clad in a sports bra and panties alone: things weren’t looking great for the agent.
She would blame the bottle of whiskey they had almost finished: that and Root’s distracting figure.
In fact not that last part she wouldn’t mention that last part.
‘Sameen if you don’t start winning something I might think you’re losing on purpose’ teased a slightly tipsy Root. Of course, what she would never admit was that Shaw’s increasingly scant state of undress wasn’t helping her either.
Unfortunately for Root she was rather less subtle at hiding her affectations than Shaw.
Shaw lent over to reach for the last of the whiskey, catching Root’s gaze fixing itself on her lean stomach despite the apparent smirk of confidence. As she lent back again, Root’s gaze snapped up. Shaw suppressed a smile.
She was no stranger to flirting and quickly went on the offensive, elongating her movements, addressing Root by name as she growled out apparent insults, maintaining eye contact. Meanwhile her gameplay similarly became more aggressive as Root struggled to maintain such consideration as she had before.
Root lost the next hand.
Shaw was feeling smug: she’d won back 50 dollars and equalized the clothing situation. Root on the other hand had finally cottoned on to what was happening in her marginally inebriated state and decided she wasn’t going to go down without a fight, nor be beaten at her own game.
‘Sameen, you seem to be gaining ground’ she purred.
5 HOURS REMAINING
She wasn’t entirely sure how she ended up pinning Root to a wall. And yet here she was.
Well, she knew how she got there, she just wasn’t sure at what point the game changed.
All at once they weren’t playing an admittedly charged game of strip poker and Root was instead leaning across the cards pushing her lips onto Shaw’s forcefully (something she never would have dared do sober) and Shaw surprised herself slightly by meeting the action head on, gripping Root’s forearms forcefully and pulling them both standing as the kiss turned both deeper and somewhat languid as Root took her time, slowing the pace. Shaw once again surprised herself by enjoying it immensely.
As was inevitable the two eventually parted, eyes locked and breathing heavily with Shaw’s hands still grasping Root’s forearms in a vice-grip.
She let go.
Root gave the smallest smirk, her eyes glinting with mirth and arousal while Shaw’s usual glare was tempered slightly as she searched Root’s face, scanning each detail in close proximity. As her eyes reached Root’s lips, her own parted slightly without her consent. Root smirked: that was all the permission she needed.
At the smirk Shaw’s eyes shot up to meet Root’s, her glare filled with daring and promise.
Root pulled Shaw forward roughly by her bra straps, nails scraping skin as she clumsily pulling their lips together, Shaw kissing back with as much force, hands gripping the side of Root’s face. It was not languid or tender: Shaw wouldn’t allow that as her teeth scratched and bit at Root’s bottom lip, each time drawing a sharp breathe from the woman who in turn responded with sharp kisses of her own, pulling Shaw ever closer though there was no more distance to travel. Shaw’s nails scraped Root’s scalp, trailing through the length of her hair, tugging harshly and causing Root to break the kiss and gasp, her eyelids fluttering.
Shaw took the opportunity to attack her neck, nibbling the length, scouring for Root’s pulse point before biting viciously. Root’s nails hooked into Shaw’s flesh in reaction as she suppressed a moan and Shaw growled against her neck, continuing her assault: not stopping to soothe the wound.
Shaw pushed Root forward until her back hit the wall violently, and Root pulled away as she gasped at the impact before quickly resuming her assault on Shaw’s lips. Shaw pinned her to the wall, arms either side of Root’s head and pressing her down with her body as she reciprocated Root’s attack on her lips.
Root’s hands began to wander, feeling their way up Shaw’s bare arms, down over her bra scraping gently across her torso, palms resting against firm abs. Her touch is light as her hands leave Shaw’s stomach, fingers playing with the hem of Shaw’s underwear.
Shaw roughly pulls away, still keeping close but pulling back enough to look Root in the eyes hard.
‘No. This is not how this is going to go.’
Her words are hard. Root’s eyebrows rise in question as Shaw breaks eye contact, frowning-glaring- as she sorts out her thoughts. Root watches, barely breathing, not making a move.
Shaw looks back at Root, resolute.
‘I will fuck you.’
Root smirks playfully.
‘But this is not a thing. This is not…’
Shaw’s hardened eyes fall down to Root’s soft fingers absently drawing patterns on her skin, intermittently playing with her waistband. Root follows her gaze but does not stop her movements. Instead, Shaw’s hands move to stop the movements, grabbing Root’s wrists roughly.
‘No.’
Shaw pushes Root’s arms back against the wall, face coming in close eyes locking with Root’s. The grip hurt but Root betrayed nothing in her expression: still playful, like she held all the cards.
‘This is not…. gentle.’
Shaw emphasized the word, slamming Root’s wrists once again into the wall with a thud, looking her dead in the eye before breaking the gaze, studying Root’s naked abdomen in favour of her face.
‘Okay.’
Shaw looked up gaze still hard, breathing deeply.
‘Okay.’ Root repeated, still not flinching from Shaw’s glare.
They remained like that, Root’s calm gaze matching Shaw’s angry eyes.
Shaw broke. Giving in to her anger she pushed Root further into the wall attacking her lips once again and Root reciprocated in kind, fist clenching as she tried to push back against Shaw’s grip and failing to break free.
Shaw pushed even harder and Root gasped, breaking the kiss, as Shaw’s grip grew tighter. Shaw shifted attention, scouring down Root’s exposed neck once again marking her brutally. Root welcomed it all, pushing further into Shaw as she bit down harshly.
‘Let me go’ Root gasped, shifting her wrists against Shaw’s grasp.
Shaw looked up, studying Root’s face full of desire, slightly out of control, a gaze unfiltered: arousal meeting arousal.
Shaw complied, releasing Root’s wrists in favor of holding still her hips. Root’s hands immediately went to Shaw’s back, grip pulling her closer, nails digging deep into flesh.
Shaw travelled further down her body hands trailing, nails scouring as she knelt down, biting Root’s skin as her stomach clenched, hips arching towards the sensations. Root’s hands entangled in Shaw’s hair, pulling lose her hair tie, lacing themselves in the strands of now-knotty hair as she pushed her closer.
Shaw resisted, pushing herself back up and capturing Root’s lips once again furiously. But not once did Root complain: she didn’t push her away despite the brutal treatment but pulled her closer, ever closer, drawing everything she could from Shaw and that made Shaw push harder, made her more frustrated as she assaulted Root, bit viciously on her neck, and Root gasped as Shaw found her pulse point yet again.
‘Shaw’ she breathed out stronger than she felt, voice still holding weight.
‘Shaw more’
Two words. Shaw didn’t need to be told twice. She pushed aside Root’s lacey lingerie with searching digits, plunging two fingers in without preamble. Root’s head fell back as she tried, and failed, to suppress a short moan and Root’s hips jutted forward to meet Shaw’s fingers, leg wrapping around Shaw’s hip to hold her closer.
Shaw didn’t pause, setting up a harsh unforgiving pace that Root met with relish as her nails left deep scratches down Shaw’s back struggling to find purchase. Shaw’s fingers pushed harder, deeper, and Root met each thrust their eyes firmly locked as Shaw fucked her further into the wall. Root’s lips parted slightly as she struggled to keep her breathing steady.
Shaw’s fingers curled while her thumb moved carelessly, harshly, over Root’s clit and Root moaned unrestrainedly, breaking eye contact with Shaw as her head fell back against the wall. Shaw took that moment to attack Root’s neck, Root’s grip pulling her closer, pushing her in as she licked and bit and pushed deeper and faster. Each bite and thrust was like lightening to Root and Root only welcomed it, accepting it all as her eyes closed, losing control.
Her hips grew more insistent as she edged closer to where she wanted to be.
Shaw didn’t tease, she wasn’t here to drag it out, and Root didn’t expect her to as Shaw’s pace increased, rhythm growing stronger meeting Root’s insistence and suddenly Root let go, Shaw never slowing: watching, feeling as Root clenched and shuddered.
‘Shit’ she breathed, hips jutting wildly
‘Fuck Shaw’ she moaned, breathing heavily as she reached her orgasm, finally slowing her pace trying to regain her breath, head still back against the wall as she tried to regain control.
Shaw stilled her fingers, watching intently as Root’s eyes remained closed, lips parted as her breathe came heavily: waiting.
Root opened her eyes slowly, fixating on the ceiling before finally bringing her gaze to meet Shaw’s, ghost of a smirk on her face. Shaw’s face betrayed nothing as she slid her fingers out of Root roughly and Root’s eyes fluttered for the briefest of moments at the sensation, leg falling to the ground.
Her hands remained gripped to Shaw’s back and she used that to steady herself. Shaw’s eyes remained fixed on Root’s face as she watched Root regain herself and when Root opened her eyes, her gaze filled with satisfaction, Shaw pushed herself away forcing Root’s grip to loosen. Root let her hands fall to her sides, watching as Shaw backed away slightly still facing Root.
‘Well that was…nice’ Root smirked, thoroughly satisfied.
Shaw made no movement, eyes still fixed deep onto Root’s as she searched and Root allowed it, seemingly knowing what she was looking for and permitting the intrusion.
Whatever it was, Shaw found it. She nodded once, like this was a business deal.
‘I’m going to bed.’
Shaw walked off, leaving Root against the wall. She heard the tap running as Shaw washed her fingers.
‘Can I come too?’ she called playfully, knowing the answer as she made her way to the bedroom. When she entered Shaw glared, warning evident in her eyes. Root’s smirk never left her face as she walked up to Shaw, invading her personal space.
‘Don’t worry Shaw. I’m only here to get blankets.’
Root spun round and headed to the wardrobe, reaching inside to the top and pulling down said items.
She sauntered off to the living room.
‘Goodnight Shaw’ she called playfully.
The bedroom door slammed in response.
1 HOUR REMAINING
The two didn’t get much time to sleep, not that they would have slept anyway, and Root wandered into the kitchen area fully dressed, watching a clothed Shaw make coffee.
‘Are you just going to stand there or sort food?’
‘Just admiring the view.’
Shaw shot her a glare, not phasing Root at all before Root obliged, finding some stale bread and sticking it in the toaster.
The two stood in silence, waiting for the toast.
‘ETA?’
‘She says about an hour, so we should probably zip tie me before then.’
‘Okay.’
The toast popped and Shaw immediately grabbed it, taking a big bite despite its unappetizing nature. Root nibbled at her own piece as the two stood in silence, leaning against respective walls. Shaw stared resolutely ahead while Root studied Shaw’s face intently, almost fondly.
‘What.’
‘Nothing.’
‘Then stop looking at me’
‘Can’t I look at you?’
‘Not like that you can’t.’
Shaw looked at Root pointedly, and Root shrugged.
‘Root.’
There was silence, but Root knew there was more and waited.
‘Root. Last night was not-‘
‘-up for discussion. I’m aware Shaw.’ Root looked up and grinned ‘I’m not fawning over you if that’s what you think. Like I said when we first met: I admire your work.’
Root took a couple of steps closer to Shaw, though not invading her personal space, instead almost circling her like prey. Shaw eyed her carefully.
‘Although, I have heard you’ll extend to three nights. I wonder if we can come to some sort of arrangement.’
‘Root’ Shaw warned
‘Two more if I’m not mistaken.’ Root’s grin grew wider, more playful.
‘Don’t look so startled Shaw. It’ll be fun.’
Their eyes met and Root swore she saw a hint of anticipation that made her shiver imperceptibly with the chance of future encounters. Root broke eye contact as her gaze lost focus.
‘In the meantime, she’s telling me we need to move. Come on Shaw.’
Root walked away into the kitchen, all business.
Shaw’s eyes never left her figure.